Geri Nikolai: Resolve to get outside in 2008

I thought my New Year’s resolution last year was brilliant. It was to simplify my life. I even made just the one resolution — the better to concentrate and reach success.

Geri Nikolai

I thought my New Year’s resolution last year was brilliant. It was to simplify my life. I even made just the one resolution — the better to concentrate and reach success.

Twelve months later, I can report that I went from a medium-size purse to a small one — in October. That’s it. Life just doesn’t want to get simple.

This year, I’m making resolutions more achievable and, I’m betting, more rewarding.

Some are:

- Get acquainted with the county’s forest preserves. I plan to visit a new one each month.

- Learn more about the Natural Land Institute and take in the seasonal beauty of its Nygren Wetland.

- Pack a sandwich and spend at least three summer lunch hours at Klehm Arboretum.

- Visit Anderson Japanese Gardens in spring when the irises are blooming.

- Plant a couple of small trees on my boulevard.

- Plant another vegetable garden in a Park District Churchill Park plot and trust it won’t be flooded — it can’t happen three years in a row!

- Visit local farmers markets.

- Pick a color theme for my backyard annual planting and stick to it, no matter how great other colors look when I go flower shopping.

That’s enough, I guess. Now to pick out my forest preserve destination for January.

Get gardening — by mail

January is National Mailorder Gardening Month, says the Mailorder Gardening Association (mailordergardening.com). The group offers these tips to get the most from winter browsing of catalogs and Web sites:

- Use garden catalogs as planning tools. See what’s new.

- Mark the plants, seeds and tools you’re interested in with sticky notes.

- Go back through and review what you flagged. Decide which ones you simply must have.

- Order early. Popular seeds and plants often sell out quickly. Seeds will usually be shipped early in the season to give you the option of starting them indoors. Plants will be shipped when it’s safe to plant them outdoors based upon your ZIP code.

- Keep a list of orders so you can track deliveries.

- File the catalogs so you can refer to them later and easily contact each company if questions arise. Remember that most garden catalogs and Web sites have gardening experts you can contact for additional information.

Geri Nikolai writes about home and garden for the Register Star. Contact her at 815-987-1337 or gnikolai@rrstar.com.

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